


the lights went down

by SailorChibi



Series: thunder family [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ABDL, Age Play, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst with feels, Baby!Tony, Carrying, Crying, Cuddling, Daddy!Thor, Gen, Homesickness, Infantilism, Little Headspace, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Loki, Rocking chair, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, alternate universe - littles are known, ignores much of the movies tbh, loki is a good caregiver, loki is still on asgard, mommy!jane, non sexual age play, non sexual infantilism, rocking, stuffed animals, thumb sucking, uncle!Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 15:24:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16349252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Tony likes Asgard, he really does. But sometimes at night, the homesickness hits him. Fortunately, he has a secret friend - or make that uncle.





	the lights went down

**Author's Note:**

> This was a commission for an anon who wanted Loki as a "secret friend" for Tony while they're on Asgard.

Tony woke with a startled lurch. Breath catching in his throat, he froze for several tense moments. His heartbeat seemed unusually loud in the otherwise quiet room, which was a nuisance: it was hard to hear if something was trying to sneak up on him when all he could hear was a pounding in his ears. He chose to look around instead, eyes darting around the room in search of an attacker, while his hands pressed protectively over his chest.

Something glowed, catching his attention. Tony’s head snapped around just in time to see a pale green ball of light form about half a dozen inches away from his face. He stared at it. The ball bounced up and down twice, then began weaving its way around him. At the end of the first full circuit, the ball split into two. At the end of the second circuit, it split into four. And so on and so forth, until the previously dimly lit room was now fully illuminated by dozens of brightly glowing green lights.

The lights were pretty, and lit up the corners of the room enough for him to see there was no one there. He relaxed slowly, reaching out a hand for one of the balls. It tingled when his fingers passed through it. He drew his hand back and the ball followed, hovering just above his palm. Tony brought the light back to his chest, gazing into it as his breathing began to ease.

“Loki?” he whispered, because there could be no doubt about who had sent the light.

Slowly the balls all drifted towards the right side of the room, though the one in his hands remained there. Tony watched as they took on a vaguely human-like shape; then, little trails of light began connecting each ball and growing until the figure was entirely covered in green light. That slowly faded away to reveal Loki, God of Mischief and the self-proclaimed best uncle on Asgard.

“What ails you, little star?” Loki inquired, his voice soft enough that no one would hear it. No one ever seemed to hear when Loki was in the room. Tony wasn’t sure if that was because Asgard chose not to hear, or that was entirely due to Loki’s skill with magic.

By way of answer, Tony lifted his arms in a desperate plea to be held. Loki deftly plucked him out of the crib, allowing Tony’s legs to wrap around his waist and a tear-streaked face to be buried in his neck. Tony clung to him with one arm, keeping his hand around the remaining ball of light with the other.

“H-had a ni-nightmare,” he stuttered out finally, fresh tears welling up and sliding down his cheeks. “I w-was in Si’eria… and I couldn’t… couldn’t _breathe_.”

Loki hummed and began to sway back and forth, rocking Tony at the same time. It reminded Tony, though he would never say as much, of being in Thor’s arms. The brothers had very similar ways of comforting crying Littles. He idly wondered if this was how Frigga had comforted her children when they were young and upset, or if Thor and Loki had picked it up somewhere else.

He turned his face enough so that he could slide his thumb into his mouth and suck. That meant he could also see the ball of light. It was a comforting sight now, though he could remember how much he’d freaked out at their appearance the first time Loki had shown up. That was the first night Tony had spent on Asgard, and, even though it hadn’t been that long ago, it felt like it had been way longer. 

Had someone told him then that they would be here, with Loki having snuck into the nursery in the middle of the night to cuddle him, Tony would’ve laughed himself sick. That first night, Loki had wisely kept his distance and contented himself with talking at Tony. Tony had done his best not to listen, but in the wake of a nightmare a voice – any voice that wasn’t filled with rage – was welcome, even the voice of an enemy. And so, Tony had reluctantly listened as Loki had told him how he’d been brainwashed by Thanos and was not in control of his actions when he waged war on Earth.

Tony hadn’t believed it at first. But Loki was nothing if not stubborn. He’d come back, and for whatever reason Tony hadn’t told Thor or Jane or Frigga what was happening. They had no idea, he was sure, if only because before they came to Asgard Thor had repeatedly reassured him that Loki was being kept in a cell below the palace. The exact words were ‘you’ll never have to see him’. Ha.

What really changed things was the night he couldn’t sleep because he was so desperately homesick; Tony remembered that he’d been laying in the crib crying quietly when the ceiling suddenly bloomed to life. He’d watched with wide eyes as a deep blue-black color rolled across the ceiling, then swelled with stars and a fat, full moon. It was like he’d been sitting on the tower, watching the sky at home, instead of trying to sleep on an alien homeland.

Then Loki had come and picked him up and rocked him to sleep, and after that Tony had given in. Maybe Loki was telling the truth and maybe he wasn’t; Tony couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d been left and lost and abandoned so many times that an open pair of arms wasn’t something he could bring himself to turn away from. Better yet, Loki understood the homesickness that still gripped him unexpectedly. This was Thor’s home, and Jane and Darcy loved it here so much. In Loki alone, Tony found guiltless comfort.

So now Loki’s visits were nightly, and he often sank into sleep thanks to Loki as opposed to his caregivers. He’d never asked Loki why, though the question was always present in Tony’s mind. Mostly, he was just grateful that there was someone else who treated him like an actual person as opposed to the adorable ornament most Asgardians seemed to see him as. 

“You know they can’t hurt you here,” Loki murmured, drawing Tony’s attention back to the present. “They couldn’t find their way here even if given a map and a ship.”

The disdain in his voice made Tony smile wetly. “M’brain doesn’t believe that,” he mumbled around his thumb. 

“Yes, I know what it’s like when your brain won’t listen to you.” Loki sighed and shifted Tony so that he could wave an absentminded hand. A rocking chair appeared and Loki sat, arranging Tony on his lap with uncustomary ease. Tony wondered, not for the first time, how much experience Loki had with children or Littles.

“Why?” he asked suddenly.

“Why doesn’t your brain listen?” Loki sounded faintly baffled by the question.

“No. Why’d you come visit me?” He pulled back from his thumb so his words could be heard more clearly, adding, “Darcy’s been here before, but she’s never mentioned seeing you.” Before latching back onto his thumb.

Loki stilled at the question, then sighed. “I suppose I should’ve expected that. No, I’ve never visited her. I have a… certain fondness for babies.” His right arm tightened around Tony and he moved his foot so that the chair began to rock. “I could not find it in myself to let a baby cry without soothing it, even if that baby is the child of my boneheaded brother and one of my enemies.”

“Was,” Tony whispered.

There was a pause, then Loki amended, “ _was_ one of my enemies.”

“So, no nefarious plan, then?” Tony said, snuggling in closer. Loki, he’d discovered, smelled like peppermint. It was a soothing scent.

Loki snorted. “It’s very hard to work out nefarious plans when you’re locked in a cell. I’m not truly here with you. I’m projecting myself.”

“But you can hold me,” Tony pointed out.

“Well, I am skilled with magic,” Loki said smugly. “More so than Odin believes. It’s exhausting to do, but not so taxing that it’s not worth my while.”

Tony pondered that for a moment. Loki could’ve been using his magic to wreak havoc on Asgard, or get revenge against Odin and Thor. Instead, he chose to come here and spend time with Tony. It was possible that he was trying to curry favor with Tony, but what good would that do him? Tony had no sway with Odin. There had to be more to this that Tony didn’t understand, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what. He found it hard to believe that Loki’s goal was just to comfort him. He wasn’t worth that.

He yawned, the thinking making him tired, and Loki’s hand began to rub slow circles on his back. Tony found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open and he sagged, going limp in Loki’s arms. He didn’t fully remember falling asleep; he thought he remembered being laid in his crib, and maybe even the faint pressure of a kiss against his forehead – but that could’ve been his imagination.

In the morning, Jane was the one who came to wake him. Tony opened his eyes and found her warm smile hovering over him. He smiled sleepily in return and rubbed at his eyes, missing the moment when Jane frowned in confusion. She reached down to touch a stuffed toy that sat in the crook of Tony’s arm. Tony followed her gaze and found himself looking at a green snake with brown eyes and a red felt tongue.

“I don’t remember you getting this,” Jane said.

Tony didn’t remember it either. It was unlike any of the other gifts he’d been given since coming to Asgard; the snake, when he touched it, felt like it was made from the kind of cheap cotton you’d find on Earth. There was a row of darker green scales down the snake’s back that were softer to the touch, but overall it was plain and lacked the ostentatious touch most of his other gifts had.

He loved it.

Jane shrugged. “I suppose I missed this one,” she said. “It’s cute, though. You want to keep that one with you today?”

“Yeah,” Tony whispered, holding the snake with both hands against his chest. He immediately felt safer, and knew he’d have to thank his uncle for the gift that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
